Not as bad as I thought

Mr. Bipartisan-in-Chief

In 2008 when I voted for a Republican for the very first time in my life, I still did not vote a straight ticket. But Friday we early-voted and I voted a straight GOP... to send my little message.

We have only one early voting location in my town versus dozens on election day. Still, I've voted early lots of times in the past and even at peak times like after work it's never been more than 10 people in line ahead of me.

Friday we went in the afternoon and the line was out the door. Hubs walked to the bathroom and counted 50+ people in line in front of us and it took 45 minutes to get into a booth. It was uneventful and the line did move, although not as fast as we would have liked. I tried to fixate on being lucky to be able to vote, unlike many servicemen and women in other states. Running into a few old friends helped to pass the time, too.

Like Houston, my town had a proposition on the ballot to limit the use of red-light cameras. I voted in favor of ours, although I'm a bit conflicted as to how I feel about them. Encroachment of Big Brother finally swayed my vote, I guess.

I haven't "weighed in" with a diet update in a while. I'm still trudging along with Nutrisystems. I'd hoped to lose a minimum of 16 pounds by today (10-31), but I've only lost 12.5 total -- that's 3.5 pounds off. I weigh again tomorrow and hopefully I'll have lost some of those 3.5 pounds. I can feel a little less fat in my gut, so I know that something good is happening somewhere.

I still like Nutrisystems and plan to continue on with it, but it's a bit like watching grass grow for results. Slowly is the best way but it's torturous.

Healthcare Spin Cycle

When I read today about West Virginia Governor and Senate hopeful (D) Joe Manchin's flip-flop on his support for the Obama Healthcare bill, I had that little moment when you just don't know whether to laugh or cry or throw a fit. I ended up laughing because I've had a pretty calm day, but still...

I seem to have that little moment a lot lately when I talk to people about some of the news lately, like major employers considering dumping insurance coverage or applying for compliance waivers to avoid having to cover children over 21 on their employee parents' policies, or insurers jacking up premiums like the price of bottled water after a devestating hurricane.

I end up asking, prodding them: Now think. How in the world does the government get to be the insurance carrier from this employer-based system we've had for 40-50 years? Think like Columbo. There would have to be incentives to dismantle the current system. If it costs a company less to shift their employees over to gov't care, they totally will try. And at the same time, if the insurers can price their product as high as possible to offset the reduction of group coverage customers, they totally will try. Oh, wow. Bingo. They are trying now.

In other words, this is exactly the game plan that Obama and Co. knew would happen. It's what they want to happen, because it brings them closer to the day when government care is all there is for a lot of us. And that was their original objective, wasn't it? Make us all like those 30 million estimate without healthcare?

That they did not tell us, well, what else is new... Playa in Chief, remember? Back when the premiums increase stories came out and Secretary Kathleen Sebelius stood at her podium hemming and hawing, spewing baseless lame threats to the insurance companies, I knew it for sure. Lemme ask -- how many insurers have had charges filed... or even been investigated? Anyone anyone Bueller? Oooh, that lady makes me quake in my boots. Not.

My friends, Obama and Co. will stand there the entire time this *transition period* lasts and while it gets uglier, costlier and riskier for all of us, they will chant their bullshit and do absolutely nothing, because they know it brings them closer to their objective: single payer givernment healthcare.

And when asked about it point blank, they'll deny, because they think we are stoopid thought lemmings and just take what they say as word. Some of us are but most of us are not, eventually. This is one area where I'm almost shocked by how much Obama and Co. have underestimated the American people. They must be one cynical and superior bunch to assume that people don't defend against being spun and lied to. If there is one phrase among folks I know who voted for Obama, it's "never again", "won't be fooled again", etc. It's like that old saying, "Burn me once, shame on you. Burn me twice, shame on me."

And I'm also amazed by how they just keep repeating the offenses. Remember the gaff during the campaign when Obama addressed a Leftie crowd in San Francisco and was taped describing folks in Pennsylvania as bitter about life passing them by, clinging to their guns and religion? You'd think he would know better after that, but just last week Obama blamed “tribal attitudes” for a recent rise in racial incidents among Americans who are hurting financially. And at a Boston event, he rationalized that voters who have gone anti-Dem have done so out of  "fear and frustration”. Oh, Wise One, Heaven forbid that any of us are using simply our logical brains to arrive at our opinions. I tend to suspect that after it is explained to him how he has eaten his own foot, he cringes not for being so lame-brained and insulting to fellow Americans, but because he didn't ace the challenge or because he had to communicate for the benefit of so many beneath him. There is just something wrong with that.

The presidency is not a video game or a science experiment, and neither is our healthcare system. If the choice is to burn down the village in order to save it, or not, I'm voting not...on Nov. 2.

It's All Bush's Fault...

To my list from yesterday's blog entry, you can add this: as much as I'd personally love to blame George W. Bush for everything (like President Obama always has, continues and maybe always will), I know in my heart that it's just another lie pandered by our Playa In Chief. In my opinion, only a Zombie could believe his bullshit by now. I mean, it is Halloween season, but seriously?

Consider this bit of info from HotAir.com . There is a graph and a timeline that pretty clearly shows that Congress owns more blame for our present situation than the Executive branch ever did, and the party that controlled Congress wasn't the GOP.

Look, I'll be completely honest here. I have a very strong suspicion that 9/11 was caused by a family feud, where the black sheep of one family (Osama bin Laden) hated the influence that the Bush family had over his Saudi royalty family. No matter the circumstances, I will never ever condone any American using this country to fight a family feud. That's what mafia, kings and dictators do, not American elected officials. No matter what's been done to your family, you take it outside of the government and fight your battle on your own.

So, you can see how tempting it might be to agree that it's always Bush's fault...except that the facts don't support it. And frankly, since I know that our economic crisis was caused in very large part by the housing financial corruption that resulted from allowing (some argue requiring) unqualified buyers to participate in home ownsership, and as early as 1998 when we bought our current home and I saw firsthand how risky the process had already become -- under the Clinton admin and a Dem Congressional majority I might add, then Obama's spin to blame Bush for said crisis becomes almost laughable.

The above-linked article reminds us that GWB asked Congress 17 times for more regulation over Freddie and Fannie or to end it, as early as 2001. That's pretty damning and not for GWB. Congress clearly dropped the ball. A Democratic Congress for much of that time, I might add, including the Clinton years when this  housing scam began as a new way to grow the market and help those who...well, who couldn't afford to own homes own homes. Wow, in retrospect, WHAT PRESRIPTION DRUGS WERE THEY ABUSING????

To illustrate just how ridiculous this problem had already gotten by 1998, we owned one home (FMV: $75,000 / Mtg balance: $11,000) and were buying another with the intent of selling the first house as soon as we made cosmetic repairs within the next year. We go to the mortgage broker, who checks out our credit and then tells us we can buy the $80,000 house we want with ZERO money down and we can add another 25% to the loan balance if we want, for those "extras" or whatever we needed the cash for. All this without requiring a second mortgage on House #1 or anything, really.

Just so you know, we declined the loan of 125% of House #2's FMV and instead put 5% down on the closing price with a loan for the balance. In our case, paying two mortgages turned out to be pretty do-able until we sold House #1, so the broker was right about our ability to pay. But, my problem with it even then was, if they are willing to take us out on such a limb, what are they doing with folks less credit worthy or risk-seeking or both? I remember thinking that, hand over heart. And some part of me wanted to make a citizen's arrest, as in you people cannot do that! You know, I knew back then it wasn't right. I'm proud that we did not take the bait and it was tempting, lemme tellya.

So, the next time you hear it is all Bush's fault, ask exactly how is it that way, and demand specifics. Remember the chart and the timeline, and that you are too smart to be blinded by the hyperbole of spinmeisters and others who have no respect for the quality of the average American's thinking mind. We're not all Zombies out here!

On a related note, I'm currently reading Jason Mattera's book Obama Zombies: How the Liberal Machine Brainwashed My Generation. Mattera goes into detail to illustrate and document exactly how the Obama Spin Machine operated. Of course, reading it now just crystalizes how stupid his believers were (and some still are). You can look back on this blog to the Spring of 2008 to see that I didn't take the bait or drink the Koolaid, so I have to confess that it's been satisfying to read this book and see further confirmation that I was right all along.

Mattera's book is what Game Change should have been, or at the very least it proves that Game Change was just so much propoganda for Obama. After reading Game Change, I remember deciding that it was proof that even the most awesome campaigner in history does not a governor make (governor, as in one who governs). And neither does the most awesome orator. God, I do hope we have all learned that lesson by now.

JUAN-a Boycott?

Leave a comment on NPR's Facebook page about Juan's firing:

http://www.facebook.com/topic.php?uid=10643211755&topic=21389

Join the Boycott NPR For Firing Juan Williams Facebook page:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Boycott-NPR-for-Their-Unjust-Firing-of-Juan-Williams/160464413984353?v=wall&filter=1

Contact your local NPR radio station and tell them no more money!

I am so stinking pissed off and have been all day long. It's Oct. 22 now, but ever since waking up on Oct. 21 (yesterday) and hearing right off the bat that NPR had fired Juan Williams...for being honest about one of his fears. He was a News Analyst for Npr and one of my favorites on The Factor on FNC.  He was not analyzing news, he was voicing his personal fears and feelings. Juan Williams is and always has been one of the fairest and most thoughtful talking heads on TV even back in his days guesting on CNN's "Crossfire", and I believe that because he treats FNC with respect like it's a legitimate news network, he was fired. That's what I think caused this. And now, fellow NPR analyst and FNC commentator Mara Liasson appears to be next on the chopping block.

Now, here is the lamestream media's account of what happened  , which you can find a story to read if you need to know the basics of what happened. THEN, I'll add the very very very important other fact that they leave out (conveniently) that helps us see clearly what the FUCK is going on here. Go ahead and read the link if you need to, my lovelies, I'll wait.

Tick Tock Tick Tock... okay. Enough time. Here is the important info you must know: World Gazillionaire (whose holding company is based in Curacao where he can avoid most taxes) George Soros just recently gave NPR $1.8 million. He also gave Media Matters $1 million (the PC Nazi intimidation machine run by gayguy David Brock who, before outing himself and deciding to defect to the other side, was a hit author for the Conservative Right back in the 1980s and 1990s -- he wrote vicious unfair books like "The Real Anita Hill").  Michelle Malkin has all the poop here. Soros almost ruined the British economy a decade ago by breaking the Bank of England with short-selling....apparently just because he could! And, lest we forget, he was one of the benefactors of one Barrack Hussein Obama in his run for president. Ten to one, most of those unnamed little donations were Soros contribs. But I digress...

According to NPR's "news", the Chamber of Commerce is the devil, Tea Party members are teabaggers, and Sarah Palin is an idiot, right? And now, if you candidly confess that seeing Muslims in Muslim clothing on your airplane makes you nervous, well then you must be unobjective scum and you must lose your job.

You know what? I have had it up to here trying to accept that:

1. my president socialized and worked former Weathermen terrorists like Bill Ayers yet we are supposed to believe that none of that mindset was shared;

2. he sat in a pew of a Black Liberation theology church for 20 years but I'm supposed to believe none of it was ingested or agreed with (or that his children who sat right alongside didn't either);

3. he trained others in community activism using Marxist activist Saul Alinsky's book Rules for Radicals and a huge amount of his campaign and administration's actions have mirrored this book's axioms yet we are supposed to believe that none of that was absorbed between Mr. Obama's elephantish ears;

4. he comes from the Thug Capital of the World aka Chicago, IL (and you are reading this and live in that piece of shit town, SHAME ON YOU for letting it continue, I'm tired of it), yet we are supposed to believe that neither he nor any of his thug underlings operate under the rules of The Chicago Way - HA!);

5. and now, it is becoming less of a secret every day that George Soros owns Obama's ass as well as all of the DNC's asses and now NPR and Media Matters, yet I'm supposed to believe that he is just an innocent citizen of the world who does super good deeds with his Tides Foundation (Ariana Huffington's Daily Beast just got a little cash infusion by Soros as well since she is losing her shirt);

When are we gonna face facts and The Truth? George Soros runs this frickin country right now. He's made no bones about his belief that Fox New Channel is not a real network...and lo and behold, Obama said that, right? Hell, he fashioned part of his ridiculous press strategy with it. Soros has long believed that pot should be legalized and now we are closer to that happening than ever before, and wow, there is a Mexican drug cartel problemo at our border that Obama just kinda ignores? I am beginning to wonder if the Mexicans aren't fighting US as much as they are fighting Soros' influence, the more I think about it. I have to wonder how much money Soros has spoon-fed the Mexican gov't to ignore their cartels...

And that economic meltdown we had one very convenient month before the 2008 election, when McCain looked like he might inch ahead of Obama and take it? You could not TIME a meltdown any better for Soros' candidate, could you? Hmmm....

Now, I ask you: after you have broken the Bank of England and brought the British economy to its knees (the reason he gave has been "to teach them a lesson"), WHAT IS YOUR NEXT CHALLENGE? Seriously, really. What? Get an American preseident elected who is your puppet, maybe?

Let me also ask: where is the thorough explanation of what exactly happened to cause that meltdown? Huh? I've heard lots of people partially explain about short-selling those bogus refinancing derivatives until they were exposed to be the junk they were, hereby causing the fake walls to tumble down. But only partially, like they don't wanna have to be asked too much.

Just saying. This country, as long as you vote for Obama or anyone who supports him, will continue to be owned by a very rich man who does not care about our country or about us nor is he accountable for doing that, except for what it can do for him and what he can buy. Is that what you want, because you should just know what you are "BUYING" with that vote.

Time to quit staring at the malignant facial mole and saying you don't see it, Doctors!

And Juan Williams is the first poor scapegoat. Mara Liasson, another NPR contributor, and someone who appears on FNC's News show with Brett Baer, and who like Williams has been asked by NPR to not appear on Fox in the past, is the next target. Media Matters is among the Nazi Left asking for her head next. What good little puppets THEY are, eh?

Now, the Lefties will say that ultraconservative Richard Mellon Scaife ran this country in the 1990's, so it's just the other side's turn, but wait a minute. Who was president in 1990's and what party did belong to? Kinda apples and oranges, idiot Left. Yes, Scaife's minions (of which David Brock was one, remember) did probably try to bring down Clinton, but they did not succeed. All the MORE REASON to keep Soros from succeeding, and I say that as one of the biggest proponents of pot legalization in existence. My country means a little more to me than that.

We cannot let anyone own this country except us, because once it changes hands, it is gone baby gone. Where else can we move to? Where else is there an America?

It just makes me so angry. I am boycotting NPR and even my local NPR stations. I'm writing letters (snail mail ones that they have to open and look at).  The NPR Radio app is gone from my ipod. I do not even mention I want their government funding yanked because it is only 2% of their budget. This is their little fundraising week and I want the phones to be silent! I want them to hurt so bad that they have to rely solely on the Soros Devil's money and then what kind of organization are they? Faux News? Oh my!~ ;-)))

Oh and since my gloves are off and I'm all ticked and pissed, I'm closing down commenting here again. I'm only getting around 5 spams a day but they are annoying. And as I detest turning on CAPTCHA, my only other option to not have to deal with the spam is to just close down the comments. Just read and move to the next blog. Email me if you want to comment. I'll even quote you in my next post if you want (be sure to let me know that).

Aimeslee Lately...

Goodness! It's been awhile, but when I haven't been sick (since Oct. 4th !!!) I've been working with Hubs on some home work.

We are finally tackling our front bathroom. The bathtub tile needs to be regrouted and the wall above the tile needed to have the wallpaper stripped off and covered with more durable bathroom wall board. The ceiling needed repainting, too.

You can see a little of the wallpaper left to strip. The whole room is wallpaper and I like it. I know, weird maybe, but I do and I want to save it as long as possible before having to replace. So we are limiting the stripping to the wall above the tile.

See that vertical slice out of the grout? That was The Hubster's attempt to do it himself. He bought a Dremel Mighty Max Oscillating tool and started with lots of determination and drive but after discovering how long it takes an amateur he finally did what I'd been asking him to do and find the number of a good tile man from one of his buddies at work. I've stumbled upon a fabulous way to get Hubs off his tush and taking care of what bizness he can around here, the magic button to push, finally after all these years: start making plans to pay someone else to do it instead.

Amazingly simple, eh? He has finally had his dream bubble burst about being able to retire early, so I guess he's begnning to see more value in his own labor -- as in, saving money. Luckily, we've found a guy who does a lot of miscellaneous home repairs and charges a reasonable price, so my honey-do list may be getting shorter in the next few months. I'm ever hopeful!

Tasty Organization

My newly-organized NutriSystems cupboard space...this is between half and two-thirds of a month's worth of food, so the two shelves I cleared should be enough room...

Just wanted to show off another *mindless* chore I finished while suffering through my allergy/cold/virus thing. Even when I couldn't concentrate on art, I found that I could *clean*. I just took it a bit at a time and laid down for breaks whenever I felt bad or had coughing fits.

I really had to do something, as my food has just been sitting on my kitchen table in basket boxes since I began Sept. 1. Not very attractive or efficient. One added bonus of the way Nutrisystem ships is that I get 3 of these basket boxes with every order as they are stacked inside one big box and helps to separate and protect my selections. I've already put a few boxes to work holding lightweight things for temporary storage.

As you can see, I am recycling post office shipping boxes. The one on the top shelf holds my breakfast foods. The green-labelled foods next to it are my lunch items. On the second shelf, the red-labelled foods are my dinner entrees, and the box next to them holds my dessert items. I'm really enjoying not having to pick up the heavy basket boxes, and I love being able to see my choices easily.

I was so afraid I wouldn't have enough space, so I got very stern with myself and lobbied Hubs to let me throw out the Ronco Rotisserie grill and a few other old appliances (this has been our appliance cupboard for a long time). That grill hadn't been used in a few years, ever since we got our invection toaster oven, but we certainly got our money's use out of it before that. So, neither of us felt bad about saying goodbye to it. Once he'd agreed to that, I finally felt like I was gonna be able to put my "groceries" away properly.

I haven't really written much about the progress I'm making on Nutrisystems, but I am having slow and steady success. My goal currently is to lose 8-10 pounds per month (their literature says I should lose 1-2 pounds per week, so that's pretty much in line when extrapolating to a monthly amount.

I did lose 10 pounds exactly for September, and I'm 3 pounds farther down as of 10-11-10. So, so far so good. I did have a minor setback the other day. I got sick again, this time involving my digestive tract. I think it was Monday. Neither of us felt great, but nevertheless we decided to go have my planned cheat meal of Mexican food (fajitas for two) at our fave restaurant as to celebrate my meeting my Sept. goal. Well, my digestion just shut down later that evening and I went to bed with horrible indigestion and loud stomach gurgling that ended in dull pains.

Tuesday, I awoke feeling no better, and made it into the kitchen for some Pepto Bismal just in time to throw up in our kitchen sink! Big meaty undigested chunks...just perfect for the garbage disposal, LOLOL. I felt better after that (and after a gazzilion doses of bleach to the sink and drain). But I still felt *off*. The same day, Hubs began getting the stomach symptoms and he had the runs instead of throw up. Then Wednesday, we each had what the other had had the day before. It was really strange, and another strangeness is that neither of us think it was from the Mexican food. We think it was like a second act to what we had last week. Like a two-part virus or something. Like I said, straaaaange.

It's a Web of Conspiracies

Sorry it's been so long, but I've been down with allergies/cold/virus stuff going around. Finally am beginning to feel human again, and I just have to share the idea that came to me, in case it comes true. If not, never mind. {cheesy grin}

The other day I was watching Congressman Ron Paul being interviewed. He was a speaker at the Virginia state Tea Party convention, and he had also won the straw poll for 2012 President nominee. So, when he was asked if he was planning to run, he demurred but definitely said he had not ruled it out.

I've never been an ardent fan of Paul's, but I've known about him alot longer than America has on account of his district being just south of Houston. He's always been a colorful figure in Texas and Houston news. He spent many years being lumped in with Lyndon LaRouche on the Crazy Conspiracies circuit. And I thought of that and noted how interesting that he's not so crazy now, is he? A lot of what he has preached has transpired. He's taken seriously nowadays and if any year was his year to run, it may finally be 2012...cuz we are frankly so bad off that we finally need his prescription (haha, he's a medical doctor so I had to use that).

Then, it hit me like a ton of bricks. The bumper stickers: "I'm a-PAUL-ed, aren't you?" "Paul and Paul in 2012". And no, not talking about his son Rand Paul as his VP running mate...it occurred to me that Congressman Paul Ryan would be a great choice. So, if that happens in 2012, don't say I didn't tellya, okay?